WFED's Jason Miller with Vivek Kundra, CIO, OMB

Agencies are putting their final touches on plans to consolidate more than 1,100 data centers across the government.

And in the last few days before chief information officers turn their strategies into the Office of Management and Budget, federal CIO Vivek Kundra reminded them that ultimate success depends on one thing.

"The only way this initiative can be successful is if it's not seen or cast in the light of only a technology initiative," Kundra said during an interview with Federal News Radio. "That isone of the reasons we have made sure we have engaged the sustainability community and the financial community."

OMB wants agencies to submit final data center consolidation plans by Aug. 30. CIOs have been working on developing these strategies all year starting with Kundra's February memo.

Kundra said the Obama administration's sustainability goals, along with its mandate to reduce the amount of real estate the government owns or manages, are key pieces to every agency's data center strategy.

President Obama issued two executive orders requiring agencies to address these issues.

In June, Obama issued another executive order requiring agencies to reduce the amount of their unused real estate. Kundra said part of that mandate requires agencies to keep the amount of data center space they lease or own constant.

"It's going to take not just CIOs across the federal government, but it is going to take CFOs and strategic sustainability officers to really move this initiative forward because there's so many equities from multiple communities," he said. "As we think about this in the long term, it's vital that all these communities, whether you are looking at it from a cost or from a greening of IT perspective, that the upside of actually consolidating and optimizing these assets has a huge benefit more broadly."

In fact, Kundra just met with Nancy Sutley, the White House's chairwoman of the Council on Environmental Quality, to plan a meeting of CIOs, CFOs and sustainability officers where they will decide on specific efficiency targets.

He said this is beyond the data center goals agencies are submitting to OMB this month.

Those plans will include agency goals for data consolidation as they relate to business needs, according to a document on the CIO Council's website.

Agencies also will have to submit measurable goals, such as eliminating bureau-specific data centers or moving to a shared service center.

Agencies will also have to provide the areas such as cybersecurity, identity and access management or collaboration tools, where they plan on using a shared services provider.

The strategy must include a timeline, governance process, cost-benefit analysis, risk management and mitigation plan, acquisition management approach and a communications plan. OMB also wants agencies to meet specific targets such as 30-to-40 percent server virtualization, average rack space utilization of 80-to-90 percent and power usage efficiency of 1.6 to 1.3.

"You are going to have execution around consolidation starting from beginning of this effort," Kundra said. "The Homeland Security Department and NASA already are seeing change. Some agencies will move faster than others."

Kundra added that OMB will approve agency plans by Dec. 31 as part of the fiscal 2012 budget process.

OMB also will release a new baseline for the number of data centers across the government in September. Kundra only would say the number will be "north of 1,100" but wouldn't offer any further details.

"We want to make sure that agencies are spending the appropriate amount of time and due diligence to make sure that the number, which will serve as a baseline for years to come, is actually well-vetted, they have thought through it, and it's consistent with the definition of data center," he said. "There is a distinction between having a telecommunications closet on one floor and calling that a data center versus an actual data center with servers, routers and switches and consumes significant amounts of energy because of cooling needs across the board."

OMB spent a lot of time this year ensuring agencies were using the same standard to define what a data center is. Kundra said the government adopted the definition from the Uptime Institute. It says that data centers must be a room that is devoted to data processing servers, typically greater than 500 square feet and meets the industry classification for tier standards.